Railway-gate.



No. 807,544. PATENTED DEC. 19, 1905.

' J. H. ELWARD.

RAILWAY GATE.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 17, 1903.

' 3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

b HUT/VESSES N0- 807,544. PATENTED DEC. 19, 1905 J. H. ELWARD.

RAILWAY GATE.

APPLICATION FILED JAN.17, 1903.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

. 5 Ex. a MM" .71 Ziawzey YVZZWESSEJ ma/ x UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

RAILWAY-GATE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented. Dec. 19, 1905.

Application filed January 17, 1903. Serial No. 139,450.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, JOHN H. ELWARD, a citizen of the United States,residing at Hutchinson, in the county of Reno and State of Kansas, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Railway-Gates. of whichthe following is a specification, reference being had therein to theaccompanying drawings.

Figure 1 is a side view, more or less conventional, illustrating a partof a railwaytrack system provided with mechanism and devices for theautomatic actuating of crossing-gates when constructed and arranged inaccordance with my improvements. Fig. 2 is a perspective of the same,also more or less conventional. showing the parts of the system referredto and portions being broken away. Fig. 3 is a plan View, on a stilllarger scale, of the parts of the railway-track at and adjacent to thecrossing and some of the parts ,of the automatic gate-actuatingmechanism.

Fig. 4 is a view, partly in side elevation and partly in section, of thegate-actuating mechanism on a still larger scale. Figs. 5, 6, and 7illustrate details.

In the drawings I have shown a portion of a railway-track system havingthe ordinary rails at a, and for convenience shall herein refer to thedifferent sections of the track by the letters A, A, A A and A.

The improvements can be applied to a railway either where a single trackof two rails is employed or where double tracks are provided, and forthe sake of illustration I have selected a track construction with twosets of rails.

The crossing as a whole is indicated by B, this being in the line of aroadwayas, for instance, of one such as is indicated by Z). Approach toand crossing of the railwaytracks is permitted or prevented, as the casemay be, by means of the gates at C C. These are pivoted to posts,uprights, or suitable frames of any preferred sort, such as thoseindicated at D, the axes of the gates being shown at d. These gates areconnected by any suitable power-transmitting device capable ofaccomplishing the purposes intended. That shown consists of a rock-shaftE, mounted below the trackrails and transversely thereto and preferablyat or below the surface of the ground. If the latter location isselected, this shaft can be inclosed in any suitable boxing or housing.It is formed or provided with cranks e, which, by means of links F, areconnected to the short arms 0 0 of the gates. The end parts of each gatecan be counterbalanced with respect to each other, weights such as shownat Gr being, if neces-' vertical position shown by dotted lines at X inFig. i to the position shown at Y in full lines through the intermediatepositions, such as indicated by the dotted lines at Z, and vice versa.

The downward and upward movements of the gates are eflectedsimultaneously by the following devices: H is a rock-shaft which isconnected rigidly to one of the gates, it being illustrated as situatedat the axis of the gate C. It has a crank or lever arm I, to which powercan be applied for the swinging of the gate. The power for accomplishingthis is derived from a weight J, which is suspended from a pulley orsheave at j by means of the rope K, the latter extending down to thewinding-drurn L on the shaft L in line with the shaft L these shaftsbeing supported in suitable framework at Z. The shaft L has a ratchet Z,and the winding-drum has a pawl Z drawn out of engagement with theescape' ment-wheel or stop-wheel the weight at J is free to descend, andit causes the rotation of the worm L which in turn rotates the wormwheelM through such a distance as is permitted by the stop mechanism. P is apowertransmitter, here of the form of a link, interposed between theshaft m and the above-described crank-arm I, connected to the gates,said link in this case being preferably pivoted at one end at p to theescapement or stop wheel a and at the other end to said crank I.

When the stop-wheel is released and the power devices are at work, theycause the gate 0 (and through that and the intermediate transmitter thegate C) to move from the horizontal to the vertical, or vice versa. Whenthe parts are in the position shown by full lines in Fig. 4: and if thedog 0 should be withdrawn, the power devices at once start the gate inan upward motion from the position at Y to the position at X, thepivot-point p of the thrust-link P traveling to its diametricallyopposite position around the axis of wheel N. When the next trippingaction occurs, the power devices cause the link P to travel again to theposition shown in full lines, and this brings downward the gates.

The dog or pawl O is moved out of its operative position by means of adraft link, cord, chain, or equivalent Q. Its upward movement is causedby means of one or the other of the two draft systems (here indicated asentireties by R R.) Each comprises a series of wires, rods, cords,chains, or equivalents, as shown at 7" 1*. .They are supported at pointselevated above the ground far enough to avoid all interference fromsnow, water, earth, rocks, or any of the impediments ordinarilyexperienced with gate-operating devices when placed near the surface ofthe ground, such support being provided by means of poles or masts S,carried to a considerable distance above the earth. I utilize where itis pracemployed at the extremity of the draft system and supported uponone of the poles S. The intermediate poles sustain the central portionsof the draft-lines and are preferably provided with rollers, such as oTo prevent the access of snow, water, and the like to the levers orequivalents at r r and to the .rollers 1*, I employ housing-caps orsheltering devices S'.

The vertical part 4" of the draft system terminates in a vibrating barT. It is secured to the end of a rock-shaft T, which is mounted on aline below the tracks and at or below the surface of the ground. It isplaced at a suitable distance from the crossing--say onequarter toone-half of a mile. It is adapted or' provided with devices which areadapted to receive motion from a passing locomotive able form; but Iprefer one similar to thatillustrated, it being a rotary disk mountedloosely upon the crank at t, with the upper part of its peripheryprojecting to a suitable horizontal line above the ground-surface andsomewhat above the plane of the rail-treads. The companion element issecured to the locomotive, being indicated at V, preferably attached tothe cow-catcher. As shown, it is a rounded or convex contact-piece, heldby the vehicle in the vertical plane of the contact U.

When the engine reaches the trip mechanism, the contact V impinges uponthe upper part of the periphery of the loose contact U, and the latterreadily depresses the crank tof the shaft T, breakage being avoided byhaving the contact U rotate freely in the way described. The greatweight of the passing vehicle enables me to transmit to the verticalpart r of the draft system a powerful strain, even though the verticalmovement of the contact parts is but slight, and this reduced movement Ican multiply by constructing the translating device at Will the wayillustrated that is, having the initial arm thereof short and thetransmitting-arm much longer, this resulting in givinga long pull to thehorizontal part r of the draft-line and positively insuring that thelocking-dog at O shall be sufficiently elevated to release the stop orescapement device.

By placing the locomotive-trip at a great distance from the crossing Iinsure a slow but positive action of the power devices upon the gate,the worm-gear controlling the descent of the gates with efliciency andproviding for gradual movements of the same.

The position of the engine is shown by dotted lines at X, Fig. 4:, whileit is on the tracksection A just prior to its reaching the contact-lineand prior to the descent of the gate from its dotted vertical position,and one of its positions when moving over the track-sections A A A isshown by the full lines at Y in Fig. 4:, this being when the gates aredown, as in full lines in said figure. When it reaches the other limitof the system, it comes into contact with the trip device at U, whichthrough the draft devices (indicated by R) causes the dog 0 to be againlifted from the stop-wheel, and another half-revolution of thepower-shaft m takes place, which elevates the gates and opens thecrossing.

It will be seen that the two draft systems are duplicates of each other,each acting to cause similar release movements of the dog 0, andtherefore the gate closing and'opening apparatus is actuated in the samemanner in whichever direction the train may be moving upon the track,and it will be seen that by elongating the rock-shafts T sufficientlythe same results can be attained from a train moving in either directionalong either of two or several tracks. Thus in Fig. 1 the train movingin the direction indicated from the track-section A? over those at A AA, and A will first cause the trip mechanism to permit the gates to dropand, vice versa, will finally cause it to permit the lifting of thegates.

Of course it will be understood that in many respects there can bemodification of and variations from the details which I have employedfor illustration and description, and parts may be added thereto, ashousings or protecting boXings or casings. Thus the shafts at E and T,with their various crank-arms, may be inclosed so as to shield them fromcontact with foreign bodies that would interfere with their movements.If such boxings or housings are employed, the contact disks or wheels UU may be allowed to extend upward through suitable openings to permitcontact with the corresponding parts on the engines or cars. Each engineor vehicle may be provided with two of the moving contacts V, one uponeach side, so that in case the stationary contact-rollers U U are eachplaced at the same side of its track, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, it canbe struck by a traveling contact in whichever direction the engine ismoving.

In order to insure that after the lock-dog O has been drawn up by theaction of the contacts at U U it shall not drop again in front of thestop or shoulder on the wheel N, I combine with these parts suitablemeans to avoid this. As shown, they consist of a bolt or sliding blockand a spring, as shown at O 0. When the lock or dog 0 is in its activeposition, it tends to press the sliding block 0 backward until it (thedog) rests against the solid shoulders on the wheel, the spring 0 atsuch times being under compression; but as soon as the lock or dog 0 islifted by the action of a train in the way above described the springshoots-the block or bolt 0' forward, and when the lock-dog drops its endfalls upon the top surface of the bolt, which guides it to the peripheryof the wheel. Hence in case the inertia of the motor is not overcomequickly v enough by the weight to start the wheel N forward during thetime of the rising and the dropping of the lock-dog the bolt 0 insuresthat the requisite half-revolution of the motor parts shall be made,even though the lock-dog quickly drops. It will be seen that the twoparts of the draft systemR and R are duplicates one of the other, andconsequently each of the vehicle-actuated contacts at U and U is capableof both releasing the motor-lock to permit the motor to move the gatesdownward and also of releasing the motor-lock to permit the motor tolift the gates upward.

The rock-shaft E and the series of levers connecting it to the gatesprovide a simple and positive means for transmitting power from the gatedirectly connected to the power mechanism to the gate on the oppositeside of the crossing.

I am aware of the fact that means for transmitting power for raising andlowering railon either side of the crossing and arranged to swingtogether about horizontal axes, the rock-shaft H secured to one of saidgates, the weight, the motor interposed between the said rock-shaft andthe said weight, comprising a longitudinally-arranged driving-shaft, atransversely-arranged shaft, a reel loosely mounted on thedriving-shaft, a ratchet-and-pawl mechanism interposed between the saidshaft and the said reel, worm-gearing connecting the said shafts, anescapement-wheel on one of said shafts, and a crank operated by saidescapement-wheel and connected to said rockshaft H, the stop for themotor, adapted to engage the said escapement-wheel, and the twovehicle-actuated contacts for releasing the stop both situated atdistances from the crossing.

2. Inamechanism for controllinga railwaycrossing, the combination of themovable gate, the motor, the power-transmitting devices between themotor and the gate, and the locking device for the motor comprising adog and a yielding engaging element for the dog on the motor, and meansfor releasing the dog, substantially as set forth.

3. In a gate-operating mechanism, the combination of the gate, themotor, the powertransmitting devices between the gate and the motor, thelock for the motor comprising a dog and a wheel having slots in itsperiphery with yielding engaging shoulders seated in said slots andadapted to be engaged by said dog to prevent its reengagement therewithafter its release therefrom until the wheel has moved a predetermineddistance, substantially as set forth.

4. In a gate-operating mechanism, the combination of the gate, themotor, the powertransmitting devices between the gate and the motor, awheel on the motor having peripheral slots and yielding shouldersadapted to move longitudinally therein, the dog adapted to engage thesaid shoulders, and means for releasing the dog, substantially as setforth.

5. In a gate-operating mechanism, the combination of the gate, themotor, the powertransmitting devices between the gate and the motor, thelock for the motor, comprising a wheel carried thereby and a dog mountedin dependently thereof, said wheel having peripheral slots with engagingshoulders for said dog mounted therein and having com- -& 807,544

pression-springs adapted to permit the longiof said motor, and means forreleasing the I tudinal movement thereof, and means for relast-mentionedelement, substantially as set leasing the dog, substantially as setforth. forth. p

6. The combination With the gate, of a mo- In testimony whereof I affixmy signature in 5 tor, power-transmitting devices between the presenceof two Witnesses.

motor and the gate, the look for the motor JOHN H. ELVVARD. comprising ayielding engaging element ear- Witnesses: ried by the motor and adaptedto be engaged N. CURTIS LAMMOND,

by a second element mounted independently E. R. ALEXANDER.

